With the number of vehicles increasing in the system every day, many statewide policies across the United States aim to increase the use of non- motorized transportation modes. This could have safety implications because the interaction between motorists and non-motorists could increase and potentially increasing pedestrian-vehicle crashes. Few models that predict the number of pedestrian crashes are not sensitive to site-specific conditions or intersection designs that may influence pedestrian crashes. Moreover, traditional statistical modeling techniques rely extensively on the sparsely available pedestrian crash database.
This study focused on overcoming these limitations by developing models that quantify potential interactions between pedestrians and vehicles at various intersection designs using as surrogate safety measure the time to conflict. Several variables that capture volumes, intersection geometry, and operational performance were evaluated for developing pedestrian-vehicle conflict models for different intersection designs. Linear regression models were found to be best fit and potential conflict models were developed for signalized, unsignalized and roundabout intersections. Volume transformations were applied to signalized and unsignalized conditions to develop statistical models for unconventional intersections.
The pedestrian-vehicle conflicting volumes, the number of lanes that pedestrians are exposed to vehicles, the percentage of turning vehicles, and the intersection conflict location (major or minor approach) were found to be significant predictors for estimating pedestrian safety at signalized and unsignalized intersections. For roundabouts, the pedestrian-vehicle conflicting volumes, the number of lanes that pedestrians have to cross, and the intersection conflict location (major or minor approach) were found to be significant predictors. Signalized intersection models were used for bowtie and median U-turn intersections using appropriate volume transformations. The combination of signalized intersection models for the intersection area and two-way unsignalized intersection models for the ramp area of the jughandle intersections were utilized with appropriate volume transformations. These models can be used to compare alternative intersection designs and provide designers and planners with a surrogate measure of pedestrian safety level for each intersection design examined.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uky.edu/oai:uknowledge.uky.edu:gradschool_diss-1838 |
| Date | 01 January 2011 |
| Creators | Agarwal, Nithin K. |
| Publisher | UKnowledge |
| Source Sets | University of Kentucky |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations |
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